The programme of the 13-day event, this year held under the motto “At the Threshold of Classicism and Romanticism”, comprises 11 symphonic concerts, three chamber music concerts and a piano recital.
The festival ends on Good Friday with Krzysztof Penderecki’s St Luke Passion performed by the Orchestra and Choirs of the Kraków Philharmonic. The concert marks the 60th anniversary of the world premiere of what is one of Penderecki’s finest achievements.
Launched in 1997, the Beethoven Easter Festival is the brainchild of Elżbieta Penderecka, wife of Krzysztof Penderecki. She passed away last October, but, as Andrzej Giza, the director of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association, the organizer of the event, told the Polish Press Agency PAP, the festival will forever remain Elżbieta Penderecka’s legacy.
The highlights of the 2026 jubilee 30th edition, which was programmed by Penderecka, include concerts by the Sinfonieorchester Lichtenstein under Poland’s Dawid Runtz, with violinist Arabella Steinbacher; the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester; the Warsaw Philharmonic; the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra; and the Alexander Sitkovetsky Trio. Featured pianists comprise the brothers Hyo Lee and Hyuk Lee from South Korea, American pianist Seth Schultheis, winner of last year’s Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn, and Britain’s Barry Douglas.
While Beethoven is the event’s key focus, the festival also highlights the work of other great composers, notably Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler.
In addition to Warsaw, the organizers of the Beethoven Easter Festival have scheduled several concerts in cities such as Katowice, Wrocław, Sopot, Gdańsk and Łódź.
(mk/tf)